The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-06-02
he would catch mudcat we would say

songs Tor uS-SOngS winch he na0 heard
his mother sing. l have sat and lis
tened TO his Barbara Allen" as the
echoes ran riot among the caves and
iungles, till the big owl returned the
challenge with a mocking fit of insane
laughter.
The old song comes back to me with
the quaint rhythm as | write:
He sent his servant to the town,
Where Barbry was dwellin'.
Sayin you must go to me own master
Ef your name be Barb'ry Allen.
Then there was another stanza that
was very affecting indeed:
And as she walked adown the street
The bells they were a-tollin',
And every toll they seemed to say,
Hard-hearted Barb'ry Allen.
know the old song would not attune
well to a parlor organ, and | doubt if
YOU could play it on grand piano.
But there was a Rethos of the thing
that stirred my youthful soul to its
depths.
Blue-eyed spring began to grow
plump, and finally developed into the
maturer charms of summer. Summer,
with the drone of the bumble-bee at
noon, and lazy Lawrence dancing on
the worm fences. Summer time, sweet
summer time! The peaches ripened
and reddened, and the corn silks be-
gan to appear. Doc said if the first
silk you saw was a red one you would
be healthy and lucky the balance of
the year. The first one he saw that
summer was red one.
And, O, the signs and sayings he
taught us. He told us that if we saw
the new moon in a clear sky it was
lucky. He told us if we killed a toad
our best cow would die He told us
that the knots in Old Beauty's name
when we went to feed her in the morn
ing-Old Beauty was our horse-were
caused by the witches who rode her
the night before, and used these knots
for stirrnps. Then he said when old
Dominicker, my favorite hen, took a
spell of Growing that
"Whis'lin' women an crokin' hens
is apt to come to some bad end"
Sure enough, blue darter hawk
killed old Dominicker the very next
Sunday.
Doc began to be stout and strong
now. He looked on the faded jacket
and little breeches he wore when he
first came to our house in a sort of
reminiscently pitying way, for his
arms had grown more muscular, and
his short legs had grown stouter, and
Doe began to be right good-looking
boy, after all
Autumn came with her sad eyes and
sobbing winds Autumn had deeper
significance than ever before, for there
were portentous tidings waited from
afar on every breeze that wandered
through the heavens. a big white
comet blazed in the sky, and Doc said
that meant war. Doc was a respecta-
ble-looking lad, indeed, now. He was
ID years old, but few would have be-
lieved it. His eyes still had that far
away expression in them. He was
older than his years.
That IL winter long to be re-
membered. Gray uniforms were seen
at the last yearly meeting, held in No
vember, and the preachers at that
meeting spoke words that sounded
harShly in our untutored ears. Young
women hummed warlike airs, and were
eager to catch the latest refrain.
| remember how the crimson deep
ened on Cousin Sues brown cheek
when she ratified off:
Huzza! Huzza! for the bonnie blue flag so
dear.
Huzza for the sword and plume that South
ern soldiers wear.
At the first frolic the fiddler wore
red feather in his hat and played
''Dixie."
Men talked and women sang, and
the warm blood ran riot in the South
ern veins. 'On to war" 80, Johnnie,
aire you bOun' to be a soldier?'
Your waist, it is too slender
Your hands, they are too small,
And YOUR cheeks too red and rosy,
To face cannon bali
And sing O-and sing ..
Sure you will, my dearl
One wintry night the northern sky
burst into a deep crimson, and we
knew that the supernatural flame of
aurora borealis was burning on the
brow of heaven. Doc said that was
the sign of war. Everything was the
sign of war. We had noticed the omi-
nous ''W" on the back of the locusts in
the early autumn. Captain Jack
Rainey had muster every week, and
the tramp, tramp, tramp of gathering
squadrons shattered the slumberOus
tlt plliS VI liit YAK tIlS,
l knew that Doc had met Lucy Pax
ton at the frolIc, and | knew that he
had followed her every movement with
a fascinated gaze. She was not grown
up, but she was most grown" they
all said. She was -, and the young
men chose her for partner when they
played "all around the merry pole, "
and Doe sat and watched her.
These were stirring times. Men and
women shattered the fetters of con-
ventionality and grew from boys to
men and from girls to women with
marvellous rapidity.
At candy-pulling Doe pulled candy
with her. The way of it was that they
all played lonesome, and they needed
one more to be the lonesome ono"
and he was induced, much against his
will, to join. His success emboldened
him, and so the boy and the girl pulled
candy, and both We're so painfully
conscious of their own youthfulness
that they pulled in silence.
Lucy's brother John was nearly Is.
He was dutiful boy and his mother
was a widow. He worked for her and
for Lucy and they lived we'll
AGAIN spring gladdened the earth
with her spirituelle beauty. But there
was not as much boisterousness at the
annual ''log-rolling" as usual In fact,
there were very few log-rollings.
Mothers and daughters and Younger
sons pulled the fallen trees together
the best they could and burned them.
Women in big sunbonnets, kept from
Topping over their eyes by wooden
''splits" inserted in the crown, grasped
the plowhandles, while "tucking
strings" girded about their waists kept
the skirts from trailing in the dirt.
All, they were made of superior met
tie, these women of the barrens were.
That spring we had to work great
deal harder and had less time for fish
ing than before. Doe helped us. He
was industrious, though still weak
ling compared with other lads.
The first tima I sow him tTuirI q